Generator mounting and drive for railway-cars.



R. T. STRATTAN.

GENERATOR MOUNTING AND omve FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29, I9lfi.

Patented Dec; 24, 1918.

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R. T. STRATTAN. v GENERATOR MOUNTING AND DRIVE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29. I916- ]i,289,013. Patented Dec. 24, 1918.

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woman/1 RALPH T. STRATTAN, OF AL'IOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.

GENERATOR MOUNTING AND DRIVE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 24, 1918.

Application filed November 29, 1916. Serial No. 134,128.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH T. STRATTAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Altoona, in the county of Blair and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Generator Mountings and Drives for RailwayCars, of wh1ch the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway cars and more particularly to the mounting of electric generators in such manner as to be driven from the car axle or any other means suitably rotated by the axle.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a generator support for railway cars wherein the generator is placed on the car in such manner as to act as a generator belt tightener, keeping the belt at a uniform tension while the car is in motion and the generator is performing its function.

Another object of this invention is to provide an auxiliary belt tightener possessing adjustable means whereby the tension on the generator belt can be regulated, such that the gradual lengthening of the generator belt is readily and easily accounted for and the tension of the belt maintained as desired.

A further object of this device is to provide a stop or abutment against which the auxiliary belt tension device engages when the belt has elongated to such an extent that slippage is likely to follow without its read ustment.

A still further object of the device is to provide a suitable system of levers and pin connections through which the purpose of the entire mechanism is made manifest, together with means for facilitating the removal of the generator belt.

With these and various other objects in view which will become more readily apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter fully pointed out, illustrated and claimed.

It will be quite readily understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention belongs that the present design'is quite suscepcal embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which .Figure 1 shows a general arrangement of the present device as applied to many of the Pennsylvania Railroad cars.

Fig. 2 shows the method of supporting the generator from the car body.

Fig. 3 shows an end elevation of the tension adjusting crank.

Fig. 4 shows a View taken on the line H of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow.

Fig. 5 shows the plan, side, front and rear elevations of the tension supporting device.

Fig. 6 shows the side and end elevations of the tension rod.

Fig. 7 shows the tension rod clevis which is held pendent from the tension support shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 shows side and end elevations of the tension link. which is shown in operative position in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Fig. 9 shows side and end elevations of the tension nut which is adapted to be engaged by the rod shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings.

Fig. 10 ShOWs the tension link engaging bar, which is positioned on the generator frame such as to be engaged by the tension link shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings.

Fig. 11 shows plan and elevational views of the tension spring engaging collar shown in operative relation with the tension spring shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

In carrying out this invention no change iscontemplated in the car body which is designated by the numeral 10, neither in the generator 11, which is designed to be operated from the truck axle by means of a suitable ulley on the axle together with a generator elt 12, shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The generator 11 is designed to be supported from a car body bracket 13, which is rigidly secured to the car body channel beam B through suitable fastening rivets 14:. The generator frame 11 is provided with upstanding perforated arms 15, which are supported by a suspension rod 16, adapted to be held in position by a pin or bolt 17, and engages the upstanding generator arms 15 together with the car body bracket 13, thus locking the generator in a pendent position to the car body.

The generator 11 by virtue of its weight will obviously hang pendent from the support 16, such that its center of gravity will fall in a vertical line passing through the support, but by virtue of a generator belt 12, the generator is pulled toward the car axle and thus obviously acts as a belt tightener of itself, and continues to act as such with diminishing force when the center of gravity of the generator is immediately below the generator support. Since this condition obviously obtains it is manifestly necessary to attach some auxiliary means for keeping the proper tension of the belt, and to this end this present device in its operative form has been presented, and consists primarily of a spring suspension bracket 18, having a depending spring abutment flange 19 and a downwardly inclining arm portion 20 havinga perforated car 20 said perforated ear receiving a cylindrical adjusting nut 21, which is adapted to be engaged by the threaded end 22 of: a rod 23, the body of which is enveloped by a spring 241, one end of which seats against the spring abutment 19 as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

The end 25, of the rod 23, is provided with attaching means 26 for securing the rod end to a pendent lever 27, which is suspended from a pin bearing 28, positioned on the bifurcated end of the bracket 29 as clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

The pendent lever 27 is preferably bifurcated as shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, in order to provide additional bearing surfaces for the pin connections, as well as to provide a more direct line of pull for the rod 23. The lower end of the pendent lever 27 is perforated in order to receive a link pin 30 which is secured, to the generator link 31 and the lever 27, the opposite end of the link 31 being attached to the generator arm .32.-

Referring now particularly to that part of the invention that is associated with the bracket 18, and which has been termed the auxiliary belt tightener, it will; be obvious that since the spring 24 rests upon a fixed base 19 which is made integral with the bracket 18 that any mechanism attached to, the opposite end of the spring will be pushed away from the base, and since the nut 21 is attached to the rod 23 and the spring asserts itself against this nut through a collar 33, it is obvious that the rod 23 will move out with, the end of the spring.

The rod,- nut and spring assembly represents the positionat which the maximum push is being exertedby-the spring since the, shoulder- 34; ofthe threaded nut 21 impinges, against the shoulder 35 of the rod 23, thus compressing the spring and increasing s l d aa ma im m such that the generator belt can easily be removed.

Since the deflection of a helical spring is directly proportional to the load applied it follows that if the spring 2% increases in length, the load carried by the spring must be correspondingly less and in order that-a comparatively uniform tension of the gen erator belt may be maintained the leverage through which the spring pull is transferred to the generator must be continually changing to meet this changing condition of the spring, and to this end the hole a for the pin 26 is drilled out of alinement with the pin holes bb in the opposite ends of the pendent lever 27, as shown in Fig. 7 of the draw-, ings.

Since the effective pull", exerted by the spring 24: on the link 31, is found by niulti plying the spring pull by the distance A" divided by the distance A plus A plus B, the quotient will be in inch pounds. Now if we assume that the pin hole 26 is revolved such that it falls immediately below the fulcrum point 28, the effective arm through which the spring pull is applied is increased from A to A plus Al, thus the numerator ofthe fraction has been increased while: the denominator has remained the same. There fore the effective pull on the rod 31 is thereby increased while the pull on the spring 23 has been correspondingly decreased.

Having thus fully described my device it is believed that the many advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent and what I claim and desire to be secured by Letters Patent, is

1. In a car lighting apparatus, the combination with a pivotally supported generator and a belt for driving the same, of means for keeping said belt tight, said means including a spring, an abutment for the,

spring, a rod attached to the free end of the spring, and passing therethrough, a bracket carrying the rod and spring, a pendent lever fulcrumed on the bracket, said lever being attached to the rod passing through the spring, a link attached to the free end of the pendent lever, and means for increasing the pull on the link simultaneously with the de crease in the force exerted by the spring. I

2. In a car lighting apparatus, the combination with a pivotally supported generator-- and a belt for driving the sanie,of-mea1is for keeping said belt tight, said means including a spring, an abutment for the spring,

a rod attached to the free end of the spring, and passing therethrough, a bracket carried by the car body, a helical spring, a seat for the spring on the bracket, a rod having a pin connection at one end and threaded opposite end, a cylindrical nut adapted to be engaged by the threaded end, and means for increasing or decreasing the load carried by the spring.

3. In a car lighting apparatus, the combination of a pivotally supported generator and a belt for driving the same, of means for keeping said belt tight including a link element connected with the generator, a bracket, a lever pivoted to said bracket at one end and connected with said link at the other, and a spring tensioned rod mounted in said bracket and connected With said lever intermediate its point of connection with the bracket and the link.

In a car lighting apparatus, the combination of a pivotally supported generator and a belt for driving the same, of means for keeping said belt tight including a link element connected with the generator, a

bracket having a depending spring abutment flange at one end and an inclined supporting arm having a depending perforated ear, said bracket also having an ofl'set bifurcated bearing portion at one end, a bifurcated lever pivoted in said bifurcated portion of the bracket and pivotally receiving said link at its lower end, a rod supported in the depending flange portion and depending ear of said bracket and connected at one end to said lever, an adjustment member carried by the other end of said rod, and a spring having one end thereof abutting against said depending flange of the bracket and the opposite end thereof abutting against said adjustment member on the rod.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

RALPH T. STRATTAN.

Witnesses M. E. GEE, J. T. HANLON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

